Sagan's Dilemma
by Airam4u
Summary: COMPLETE A genius joins the SGC except he knows more than any one man should. Crossover with The Pretender


Major Samantha Carter stepped out onto Level 11 from the Restricted Access Elevator Shaft. Colonel Jack O'Neill, her immediate CO, had asked her to come up to escort their new scientist down, Captain Jarod Sagan. When she stepped out of the elevator and towards the security checkpoint she caught her first glimpse of the next man to learn about the secrets of the SGC. Jarod Sagan stood at a little over 6 ft. tall, weighed in at 175lbs, had short black hair, deep chocolate brown eyes, a warm smile, and a muscular frame under his dress blues. She estimated the man to be in his mid to late thirties and mildly attractive, however in her eyes no one could replace her CO.

"Captain Jarod Sagan," Sam called out as she stepped up to him.

Jarod held out his hand as he introduced himself, "Actually it's Major now, I was promoted just before I left my previous assignment. I guess the word hasn't spread yet!"

Sam took his hand and smiled back, "I guess not. I'm Major Samantha Carter, but I go by Sam. It's a pleasure to meet you Jarod," she told him as she turned to the security officer and signed him in and obtained his temporary identification tags.

"Likewise," he told her as he accepted his tags and put them on as they stepped into the elevator to proceed deeper into the mountain. "When I heard I'd be working with you I became quite excited. I've heard a lot about you and I've read a lot of your papers. I look forward to working with you here... doing whatever it is we'll be doing."

Sam turned to Jarod and smiled before sending the elevator down to level 27, "I'm sure you'll like it here. We've got some of the best research in the world going on down here. The research and technology we develop down here is more exciting than anything you saw at Los Alamos I'm sure!" she told him with a smile.

Jarod however had lost the smile from his face as he stared at the call button for level 27. Jarod hadn't expected to be working this far down underground, and the fact that he was heading to the 27th level underground only brought up bad memories from his time at the Centre. Jarod was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't hear Sam checking on him, "Jarod! Are you all right?"

"What? I'm sorry... I was just..."

Sam followed his gaze to the lighted button for level 27 and understood, or so she thought, "Never been this far down below ground have you? Yeah, it can be a little unnerving the first few times, but you get used to it. Eventually you forget how far down we work."

Jarod finally tore his gaze from the call buttons and looked at Sam and smiled, "Yeah. I'm okay, it's just that it's been a while since I've been down this far..."

"Really? Where at?" Sam asked him curious as to what other facilities would have 28 levels underground.

"Delaware," Jarod told her seriously in a manner that let Carter know it wasn't a comfortable subject for him. Jarod then decided to draw the attention away from himself, "So Sam, what exactly does a theoretical astrophysicist study several hundred feet below ground under a mountain?"

Sam merely turned to him and smiled as she led him out the open elevator doors on Level 27, "I'll let General Hammond tell you."

* * *

"So who's the new guy sir?" Colonel Jack O'Neill asked.

General George Hammond, commander of Stargate Command, looked up from the file he was rereading on his desk. "Major Jarod Sagan, a nuclear physicist from Los Alamos, but it seems he was working in a top secret facility just outside of Los Alamos. Wasn't able to get too much on the work he's done, apparently his work is as top secret as the work we do down here in the SGC. All I was able to get were his censored military records and recommendations from his previous commanders."

Jack O'Neill made a face as he received the quick bio on the newest addition to the SGC, "Another scientist," he muttered under his breath.

"Yes, Colonel, another scientist. And another doctor, he received his PhD from MIT at the age of 24," Hammond told him with a smile.

"Great. A super geek!" Jack mumbled again. Though when he saw the serious look on his CO's face he added, "And I'm looking forward to working with him sir!"

General Hammond smiled as he got up from his desk and headed towards the adjoining SGC conference room with Colonel O'Neill in tow. When they entered Majors Carter and Sagan were already there, the latter standing at attention. "Major Sagan, reporting as ordered sir."

General Hammond walked over to the man and shook his hand, "At ease son. I'm General Hammond, and this is Colonel Jack O'Neill."

"Nice to meet you Major. You know, with a last name like Sagan, I'm surprised you didn't go into astronomy!" Jack chided him.

"I guess so sir. But then again I always thought astronomy was for super geeks and nuclear physics for geniuses, sir," he told him with a smile.

Jack's face fell as he learned that Jarod had heard his earlier comments while the other two occupants didn't hide their smiles as they saw someone throw his own words back at him. Just then another man entered the conference room carrying a stack of papers and folders. "Ah, Danny-boy, excellent timing. A few minutes late as always!" Jack teased him as he tried to shift attention from himself.

General Hammond handled the introductions as they sat down, "Major Jarod Sagan, meet Dr. Daniel Jackson. Dr. Jackson is a civilian consultant for us here at the SGC," he explained.

"Medical?" Jarod asked of Daniel.

"Um, no," he started to answer as he pushed his glasses back up, "Of archaeology and linguistics..."

Jarod's eyebrows furrowed as he wondered why an archeologist was working with the Air Force alongside a theoretical astrophysicist. General Hammond saw the questioning look on his new subordinate and so started to explain to him what went on in the base. "Major, let me explain to you what we do here at the SGC, or Stargate Command."

Over the next hour Jarod was given an introduction to what the Stargate was and what the mission statement for the base was. He was actually able to see the Stargate in operation as SG-2 returned from another planet. Major Carter was amused by the look of shock and awe on Jarod's face as he saw the Stargate in operation, it reminded her of when she first stepped through the Stargate. Colonel O'Neill merely rolled his eyes as another scientist was blown away by the Stargate and the physics and impossibilities of it. Afterwards they took him on a tour of the base and ended up in Major Carter's laboratory on Level 16.

"Well kids, I'll leave you two to talk science and start playing with all your little doohickeys. I'll see you both at lunch," Jack O'Neill told them as he left the laboratory and headed to his own office to do some paperwork that he had been putting off doing long enough.

Jarod turned to Sam, "Is he always like that?"

"What? Not serious or acting like he did towards you because you're a scientist?"

"Both I guess..."

Sam smiled, "Yeah. Don't worry, he's like that with most new scientists he meets. He'll warm up to you... I think... if not just save the world a couple of times and then you'll be in his good graces, even then he won't show it too much."

"Right, I'll keep that in mind!" Jarod told her. "So where's my lab?"

"Actually, we'll be sharing this laboratory. Because of your quick transfer, we weren't able to prepare a separate lab for you. In a couple weeks though, we'll be able to use the adjoining room as well for lab space. Until then, we share. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, I'm scheduled to be off world quite a bit over the next few weeks. I'll try and get you a desk and workstation by the end of the day."

"That's fine, no rush. So what have you got going on down here?" Jarod asked her as he looked around the room and all the new and unknown technologies that SG-1 and other SG teams had acquired from across the galaxy.

Three hours later Jack O'Neill walked into the laboratory to find Sam and Jarod leaning over the workbench and discussing the schematics for God knew what. "...so if we change the checkpoints in the control system, use platinum instead of copper, and use carbon nanotubes... the output of the naquadah generator should go up 25% while reducing the size by a third! It's brilliant, I don't know why I never thought of it..."

"Come on, I can't take all the credit Sam. I wouldn't have thought about the nanotubes if you hadn't said something about the material memory. You know what they say about two heads being better than one..." Jarod excitedly told her as he looked at the plans for the new generator they planned on building.

"Actually it just means there's one more mouth to feed!" Jack told them as he stood in front of them and smiled. He looked down at the designs and began to nod his head in understanding.

"Sir," Sam told him as her face lit up at Jack's attempt at humor.

"Sir," Jarod also told him as he studied Jack studying the blueprints. He then leaned over to Sam and whispered, "Does he know what he's looking at or is he just mocking us scientists?"

Jack's eyes shot up and stared at Jarod, "I don't mock scientists, that would imply I had an idea of what you guys do!" he smiled. "How about we go grab some lunch... they're serving Jello today!" he excitedly told them.

Jarod's face also lit up at the mention of jello, "Hmmm, I love Jello!"

The three of them left the laboratory with smiles on their faces. Sam made a comment as they left, "You do both realize that Jello isn't one of the four main food groups?" Jack was starting to like Jarod, anyone who got as excited about Jello as he did couldn't be that bad and that much of a science geek.

"So where you from?" Jack asked as all the members of SG-1 sat down to eat with Jarod in the mess hall.

"Lots of places, all over I guess you could say."

"You a military kid?" Jack asked, he didn't recall that from the file.

"No, I wasn't raised by my parents. But my father was a pilot in the Air Force," Jarod told them sadly as he wished he would someday find his family.

Jack and Sam lowered their heads out of a respect for Jarod as they assumed that Jarod's parents had died when he was young. Daniel, however felt a connection with Jarod, "I was raised in the foster system as well... my parents died when I was eight in 1973..."

Jarod had a flashback to a simulation he had run while at the Centre. Sydney wanted him to run a simulation on the death of a couple he knew who had died while setting up a museum exhibit, they had left behind an eight-year old son. Jarod remembered the simulation perfectly because he remembered feeling so sad for the little boy who had lost his parents like he had. "Your parents weren't named Claire and Melburn Jackson were they?"

Everyone at the table looked at Jarod shocked, "Yeah, how did you know that?"

"I remember hearing about their death when I was young. I remember feeling very sad and scared for you, I knew what it felt like to lose your parents..." Jarod told them truthfully.

The table remained in silence for a few moments as they all went through their own thoughts. Jack finally broke the silence, "I'm going to get some more Jello, anyone want some?"

Only Jarod took him up on the offer as the mood of the table lightened. "So Jarod, what did you do at Los Alamos?" Sam asked him.

"I can't really say all that much about it, it's some pretty classified stuff. But I did get to do some work on developing a quantum computer."

"You might be able to do some work along the same lines here if you like. A lot of the other races we've encountered use crystal technology, my guess is that they've been able to essentially develop a quantum computer within each crystal. We just don't quite know how to use it yet!"

"Well I can't make any promises! So, Dr. Jackson what do you get to do here?" Jarod asked as he tried to find a link with what was going on here in the SGC and the reason he had come.

"I have an archeologists and a linguists dream job! With SG-1 I get to be one of the first people to make contact with different civilizations and try and communicate with them! Some of the civilizations we've run into are almost mirror images of old civilizations from here on Earth. I get to actually see it with my own eyes! It's truly fascinating! That and along with all the translations I do, I'm kept pretty busy here. You should come by my office later this afternoon and I can show you what I'm working on currently and show you some of the things we've brought back from other worlds," Daniel told him excitedly as he saw that Jarod seemed to be equally interested and curious.

Jack couldn't hold back a remark, "Yeah, his office is filled with rocks! Lots and lots of rocks!"

Daniel rolled his eyes before glaring at Jack, "They're artifacts Jack, not rocks!"

Jarod jumped in before the friendly banter escalated, "I'd love to come by your office."

After work, Jarod went back to the hotel he was currently staying at. When he was settled in and had checked on the status of his pursuers from the Centre he thought about what he had learned that day. The mere existence of the Stargate still amazed him, he was a genius and the thought of being able to travel to other planets in mere seconds never occurred to him. He couldn't pass up the chance to continue working there. If he stayed with the SGC he would be able to help save the world. It was a nice feeling to know that he would have a positive impact on the world, that what he was doing wasn't to right a wrong that the Centre committed when they used him. Besides, the Centre would never find him underneath a mountain in Colorado!

He also thought about the conversation he had with another friend who knew about his Pretender abilities and penchant for discovering the truth. His friend had asked him to look into the death of a close friend and former colleague, Dr. Rothman. The circumstances released surrounding his death had been vague, and along with the fact that a body was never produced had seemed suspicious at first, especially since Rothman was a paleontologist/archeologist employed by the US Air Force. After learning about the Stargate, Jarod began to doubt that foul play was involved in the death of Dr. Rothman. In the afternoon, he'd learned from Dr. Jackson that Dr. Rothman had died while on an off-world assignment, a larval Goa'uld had taken him as a host. Jarod had plans for the next day to read the mission reports and verify the circumstances surrounding Dr. Rothman's death.

Jarod then pulled out his silver briefcases. Inside one was a DSA player; in the other, recordings of his entire life since 1968 contained on small two and a half inch silver discs. He searched for the disc that contained the simulation he had run concerning Dr. Jackson's parents.

* * *

One month later

"General Hammond, I believe we should take Jarod with us on our next mission." The General and Jack both looked at Carter and waited to hear her reasoning. "Sir, he's brilliant in the laboratory, we all know that. And he's been here for over a month and he still hasn't gone off-world. It's bound to happen, and initial reconnaissance of P3X-429 suggests that there is no life. Sir, I believe it would be an excellent chance for Jarod to get his feet wet."

"We don't need another scientist on our team," Jack reminded her, "we've got you!"

"Yes, sir. But I think if we give him some off world experience with us, I think he'd be able to join SG-7 on their scientific missions."

"You truly think he can handle gate travel?" General Hammond asked her.

"Yes sir."

General Hammond considered her request, "Very well then. Major Carter, make sure he's at SG-1's next briefing at 0800 tomorrow morning. Colonel, I want you to keep an eye on him and see how he'd react under possibly more strenuous circumstances while off world."

The next afternoon Jarod walked into the embarkation room carrying his pack and only a Browning 9mm and a knife for weapons. He stood at the base of the ramp filled with excitement as he waited to travel to another planet for the first time. His excitement was palpable as it spread to his temporary teammates who smiled at him. Once the wormhole had been established they all walked up the ramp, Teal'c and Daniel were the first ones through. Jarod stood before the wall of water in amazement as he brought his hand up to the wall of water to touch it. Behind him Carter and O'Neill looked at each other and smiled as they remembered her own reaction before she stepped through the Stargate the first time. Both of them got the same idea in their head as they smiled, raised their hands and pushed Jarod through.

Twenty minutes later SG-1 and Jarod were walking towards a temple the UAV had seen that was four miles from the gate. Jarod was still expressing his scientific amazement at the new planet. "This is amazing! I can't believe I'm on another planet... it looks so much like Earth though."

Jack came up beside him, "Except for that two moon thing," he reminded him as he pointed at the sky.

Jarod looked up, "Well yes, but I mean ecologically. Look at the plants and trees here, we have the same ones on Earth. The vegetation is exactly like a deciduous forest found in the Midwest, except this is a younger forest than the ones we have," Jarod told them. He then pointed out all the different trees, shrubs, and plants using their scientific names.

Jack looked at him with a sideways glance as Jarod continued to spout off the Latin names for the vegetation, "You a botanist?"

Jarod merely smirked, "No, it's just a hobby." Jarod realized that he would have to be careful, he couldn't let himself forget that he was a nuclear physicist. They continued on in silence for another fifteen minutes before Jarod spoke again, "There's something strange about this forest, listen."

Everyone else on the team came to a halt and became just a little bit more alert. Daniel spoke first, "I don't hear anything."

"That's just it. There are no birds here. I haven't heard one single bird call since we got here. Are most planets like this?" Jarod asked.

The team continued walking towards the temple relieved that there wasn't any danger around them. Sam answered Jarod as she tried to recall some of their missions, "No. We usually do hear or see birds now that you mention it. Maybe they're all quiet because of our presence?"

"I don't think so..." Jarod answered as he continued to look at the trees. He then started making different birdcalls. His teammates all stopped and stared at him as he continued to whistle out different calls. When Jarod stopped without hearing any response he noticed that they were all staring at him. He sheepishly smiled and continued walking, "Hobby."

Jack tilted his head back and raised an eyebrow, "Right... you got some strange hobbies Sagan!" He then whispered under his breath, "Science geek."

They arrived at the temple an hour later. Inside the temple they found a large chamber with a sarcophagus in it, however there were no signs that the temple had been used for hundreds of years. Over the next few hours Daniel began making some rough translations as the rest of the team checked out the rest of the temple and started making recordings of the walls. Jarod was in a corner doing some of his own translations of the hieroglyphics on the walls when he came upon a section mentioning weapons. He then called Daniel over to check his translation and fill in some blanks of the translation he didn't have. Jack came over to him, "You can read this?" he asked as he gestured at the walls.

"Well only some of it, Daniel's been teaching me..." he told him as he stepped away from the wall to look at the entire room again.

"Right, because everyone wants to learn Egyptian hieroglyphics in their spare time..." Jack added as he watched Jarod. There was something strange about him, but he couldn't pin it, it was something more though than Jarod just being a science geek.

Daniel was mumbling the translation, "'...with the weapons through the Eye of Ra we fought against the army of Apophis and sent him back through the Chappa'ai...'" Daniel then looked at some of his own notes that he had taken from another section of the room. "This doesn't make sense, this part was written after Ra and his Jaffa had left. There must be a stash of weapons somewhere here that they used to fight Apophis."

"Cool," Jack commented as he looked around the chamber again to find a door that he hadn't found earlier. Not finding anything he asked a question, "Where is it?"

Daniel rolled his eyes as he continued to study the wall for more clues as to where the weapons were, "I don't know Jack!"

Sam walked up next to Jarod who had a questioning look on his face, "What is it?"

Jarod slowly spoke, "It said 'through the Eye of Ra.'" Sam followed his gaze to the carving of Ra's symbol, the Eye, on the wall behind the sarcophagus. Jarod then walked up to the symbol and inspected it more closely. He finally found what he was looking for, he pushed against the center of the eye. To everyone's surprise the rock gave way, as it did the sarcophagus in the center of the room moved back revealing a set of stairs.

"Whoa!" Jack yelled as they all trained their weapons on the opening below them. "Nice, let's see what we got down here..." he told them as he slowly made his way down the steps. In the hidden chamber they found a cache of staff weapons, zats, Goa'uld grenades, and other Goa'uld devices, some known and some unknown.

Two hours later Jack was bored after taking an inventory of the weapons cache and watching his three scientists ogle the unknown weapons and hieroglyphics. "All right campers it's 2200 hours, time to start heading home. We gotta be home in the next two hours before they close the door on us. Sagan, help Daniel pack up will ya? The rest of us let's head out. We'll see you outside in ten minutes!" Jack felt he was being generous by giving Daniel ten more minutes to take more pictures. Carter, Teal'c and Jack then left the main chamber as Jarod started packing up his bag.

As Daniel finished taking his last pictures he chatted with Jarod about ancient Egyptian religion and mythology. Daniel enjoyed Jarod's company, especially his curiosity for the unknown. In Jarod he found someone whom he could speak with on a technical and scientific level, he was impressed though with Jarod's breath of knowledge and understanding of certain archeological theories. Ten minutes later they had gathered all their gear and were heading for the exit. They were turning the corner to go down the corridor that led out when Jarod looked out the exit and then pulled Daniel back against the wall. "Whoa, we got company!"

Daniel looked over at Jarod and then slowly took a look around the corner, "Oh yeah! Goa'uld! What do we do?" Daniel asked relying on the military man to come up with a plan.

Jarod took another long look around the corner. He was able to see the other three members of SG-1 kneeling before a group of Jaffa. He was able to make eye contact with Jack who motioned for him to head back inside. Jarod then sent him hand signals that he and Daniel would wait there temporarily, and then follow them. Before Jack could agree with him, a pair of Jaffa entered the temple hallway. Jarod pulled his head back from the corner and then looked at Daniel, "Come on, we gotta go!" he told him as he started sprinting back to the main chamber.

"What? We can't leave them!" Daniel quietly yelled at him as he followed him.

"We won't. We just gotta lay low for now until they leave, then we'll follow," he told him as he entered the main chamber. He paused and looked around the room, "There, behind those pillars." As Daniel headed towards the immense pillars Jarod ran to the back of the chamber and pressed the center of the Eye of Ra, closing access to the hidden chamber. As he joined Daniel behind the pillar he whispered, "No sense letting them get their hands on those!"

A minute later two Jaffa entered the main chamber. They took a cursory look around the main part of the hall, but didn't walk the entire length of the hall. The two men stayed hidden for several minutes after the pair left. Once they deemed it safe to come out they stepped out from their hiding spot and Jarod walked to the Eye of Ra to open the armory. Daniel stood at the edge of the room looking down the hallway to make sure that there were no more Goa'uld. He yelled at Jarod as he stepped into the hidden chamber, "So what do we do now?"

"We stock up," came the reply from below. A few seconds later Jarod re-emerged and went to close the armory. He then came up beside Daniel and patted him on the back, "Come on, let's get out of here."

When they reached the temple entrance they held back just inside of the entrance as they checked for any Goa'uld. To ensure that there weren't any Goa'uld guarding the entrance out of their field of vision Jarod pulled out his knife in a move that shocked Daniel. "What are you going to do with that?"

Jarod then searched for his toothpaste and pulled it out. He applied a small dab to his knife to polish it and make it shine. He then carefully held it out away from the corner, "Looking around the corner... this side's clear." He then moved to the other side and did the same, "Okay this one's clear as well... at least it is close to the entrance..." Jarod then took a deep breath and quickly stuck his head out the entrance and looked around. "All right, we're all clear. Let's move," he told him as he looked around and found the discarded bags and weapons from the captured members of their team. Jarod then proceeded to go through their bags and redistribute the supplies they might need into two bags. Once he was done he handed one bag and machine gun to Daniel while he held onto the other bag and the other machine gun. He then stood up and looked at Daniel, "okay we're about ten minutes behind them, if we run hard we should be able to catch up with them in fifteen minutes. Let's go!"

As they ran Daniel asked about their plan, "Jarod, you have a plan right?" he asked through deep breaths.

"Yeah, get them back."

"That's it? That's your plan?" Daniel asked shocked and worried that they wouldn't be able to get his friends back.

"Well, it's more of an overview right now. I won't have the details worked out until we see them," Jarod answered back as he increased the pace ever so slightly much to Daniel's dismay.

Ten minutes later Jarod slowed to a walk as he came to the top of a low ridge parallel to the path back to the Stargate. He found a hidden spot where he could monitor the path and sat down, Daniel plopped himself down next to him out of breath. Jarod pulled out his binoculars and scanned the path, "I see them... they're about a quarter klick back... they're being escorted by seven Jaffa...four in front and three in back... they're hands aren't bound-that's good, I can use that..."

Daniel took a sip of his water before looking at the path as well. "So you've got a plan now?" he asked hopefully.

Jarod looked at Daniel and smiled, "Yeah, I'm starting to form one in my mind... Look, I need to make contact with them, I need you to go on ahead... I'll meet back up with you in a few minutes."

Daniel grabbed his bag and the two extra bags and got up. When he was a few steps away he stopped and turned around, "How you going to contact them?"

"With the birds," Jarod told him as he smiled and headed down the ridge to get closer to the main path. Jarod quickly and quietly made his way down the ridge to within fifty yards of the main path. Hiding behind a fallen tree he looked over and saw that they were about 60 yards away. Jarod pulled out his binoculars again to see his teammates' reactions, he then whistled a few bird calls.

He was on his third set before Sam noticed the sound. She then slightly turned her head to Jack and whispered, "Sir, listen."

Reading her lips, Jarod sent another bird call for Jack to hear. "Birds..." O'Neill whispered back as he smiled and looked around with his eyes. Even though he looked around he couldn't see anything, he hoped though that Jarod was watching him, "Jarod..?" Jarod replied with a short call followed by silence. O'Neill then mouthed, "You got a plan?" Another short whistle was the reply. He then whispered to Teal'c and Carter, "the cavalry is here... did any of the snakeheads notice the 'birds'?"

Teal'c answered, "They did not."

Pleased that they were now ready, Jarod then slipped back up the ridge and started to run again to get ahead of the escort. A few minutes later he had caught up with Daniel and taken one of the bags he was carrying so they could take off at a run again. They ran for another a mile and a half before they came down to the main path. Daniel rested while Jarod analyzed the surroundings and took into account what he saw earlier of the escort party. He closed his eyes and ran a simulation of the ambush he was planning. Daniel stared at him intently as he watched the withdrawn Jarod. When Jarod opened his eyes he sprang into action, "Okay I got a plan now!"

"That's refreshing," Daniel commented as he followed Jarod.

Daniel watched with amazement as Jarod paced out the path and made two precise marks on the path. Jarod told him to dig two six-inch holes that were five inches in diameter while he set up the explosives. Once Daniel was done with the holes he watched as Jarod placed two stones in the bottom of each hole at a deliberate angle. Jarod carefully placed one shaped explosive in each hole and again was deliberately angling them towards the Stargate. Jarod then carefully covered each hole up and then handed the detonator to Daniel. He then stood in between the two charges and again closed his eyes, he then paced off five steps and stopped. Jarod opened his eyes once again and looked around again. He then pointed to a spot five yards on the other side of the charges and ten yards into the woods, "You'll be over there, just on the other side of that downed tree..." He then walked towards the trees on the same side and jumped over a small row of bushes. He looked around and then placed one of the machine guns down on the ground.

"What's that for?" Daniel asked confused.

"For them once the ambush starts... once they hear you firing from this side they'll jump over these hedges for cover..." Jarod pointed out as he motioned for Daniel to follow him and fill him in on the rest of his plan.

"And they're going to jump over right at that point?" Daniel asked not believing completely that Jarod's plan would work as he thought.

"Yeah," Jarod told him calmly and confidently. He then kneeled on the far side of the fallen tree he had indicated earlier and checked the sight lines. "Yeah this'll do..."

"For what?"

"For your part of the plan. I'm going to contact them again just before they arrive to the charges. Once you hear a low whistle, like incoming artillery fire, be ready to blow the charges. Once I stop, count to two and blow them. Those blasts should take out the two Jaffa right in front of O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c. You-"

"Wait, won't they get hurt in the blast?" Daniel asked even more unsure of Jarod's plan the more he learned of it.

"No. They're placed and shaped in a way that they'll explode away from them. Now once the charges have been set, I need you to take care of the two Jaffa in front with the P-90. I'll be behind them and take care of the two Jaffa in the rear."

Daniel was amazed as he listened to Jarod's plan and the preparations he had been making. "What about the seventh Jaffa?"

"Well once the ambush starts O'Neill and the others will jump over those bushes back there. Either they'll take care of the other guy with the machine gun I left behind there or I take care of him. Got it?" Jarod asked as he got up and let Daniel take his position by the tree.

Daniel looked around and nodded his head, he couldn't believe how precisely Jarod's plan was laid out. "What if they aren't in the order you think they are?"

"They will be... but if I don't think it'll work you won't hear the low artillery whistle. Remember, once I stop wait two seconds before detonating the explosives," Jarod reminded him as he went off to find his own spot. As he walked away Daniel hoped that Jarod's plan worked, the lives of his friends were at stake.

Five minutes later Daniel could see the escort walking down the path. He pulled out his binoculars and saw that they were in the configuration Jarod had told him to expect. He even took the time to notice the spacing between all the individuals.

When they were twenty yards from the charges they heard the birdcalls again. O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c once again looked all around them with only their eyes. Jack whispered to his team first, "Be ready team..."

"For what?" Sam asked as she looked into the woods.

The captured members were now fifteen paces from the charges and the two lead Jaffa were five paces from the charges when they heard the low whistle slowly get louder and sharper. "That," Jack exclaimed, "when it stops be ready for an explosion and to take cover..."

When the whistle stopped, SG-1 was six paces from the charges and the pair of Jaffa immediately in front of them was just about to step over the charges. Two seconds later, hell broke loose as the exploding charges sent the two Jaffa flying in the air as SG-1 hit the dirt. As soon as they hit the ground they heard the sound of a P-90 ahead of them and on the right side of the trail, they then scrambled off the trail and jumped over the low row of shrubs. Behind them they heard two 9mm shots ring out. As they cleared the shrubs Jack saw the machine gun, picked it up and turned around to face the Jaffa. He found only one Jaffa scurrying around that he quickly disposed of with a quick burst from his gun. Jack scanned the area looking for any standing Jaffa but didn't find any. As fast as the ambush had started, it was now over he realized as all the gunfire died out and silence returned.

Jarod emerged from his concealed spot and walked out onto the trail, "Clear," he yelled out. Slowly, the rest of SG-1 emerged from their locations and joined Jarod on the trail in the middle of the ambush location.

Jack and Sam closely surveyed the damage that had been done, the two directional charges and the two Jaffa behind them who each had a bullet hole through the spine at the base of the skull. Jack looked up from the ground, "This your doing Sagan?"

"Yes sir," Jarod replied. Knowing that he would have to come up for an explanation for what had just happened. He then handed them one of the extra bags, "Here's some of your stuff, sir, I had to pick and choose."

"That's all right," Jack told him as he looked at him with a questioning look as he shouldered his bag and took charge of his P-90 while Carter did the same and Teal'c walked over to pick up a staff weapon and a zat from a fallen Jaffa. He was about to ask Jarod about the explosives and shooting when Jarod spoke up first.

"Sir, I think we should head to the Stargate right away. We don't have much time to get back through the Stargate and my guess is that there'll be a group of Jaffa guarding the gate that we'll have to get through, sir."

Teal'c came up beside Jack and spoke, "He is correct O'Neill. The Goa'uld would not leave the Stargate unguarded."

Jack looked around, "Okay campers, let's head out... good job Sagan," he told him as he led them to the Stargate.

Twenty minutes and a mile and a half later they came within site of the Stargate to find that it was guarded by six Jaffa. Jack looked down at his watch, "Okay we got fifteen minutes... What we come up with has to be sure and fast..."

Jarod set down his bag and reached into it and pulled out a Goa'uld version of the grenade, "Teal'c how's this thing work?"

"When'd you get that?" Jack asked as he tried to take a look into his bag to see what else was in there.

"After they'd taken you. I thought it wouldn't hurt to be prepared and stock up, sir," Jarod replied to Jack's delight, he liked working with a soldier that thought ahead.

Teal'c then responded to Jarod's question, "The device has a ten second delay before it becomes activated. Once activated it incapacitates anyone within a fifty foot radius for five minutes."

"That should do it," Jack exclaimed as he took hold of the device. "Sagan you come with me to launch this thing from behind the Stargate. Once it's done it's job, Daniel you dial us out of here and the rest of us will cover you."

* * *

The next morning

The members of SG-1 and Jarod were seated around the conference table waiting for General Hammond to do their debriefing. The General walked in a few minutes after ten. "So SG-1, how'd things go?"

Those around the table all looked at each other before Jack answered, "It's a nice planet sir. Found a cache of Goa'uld weapons. Carter, Teal'c and I were taken prisoner by the Goa'uld. Daniel and Sagan rescued us. Same old, same old sir."

"What?" Hammond exclaimed. He didn't know if he was more shocked that SG-1 had been captured once again or that they had been rescued by a wet behind the ears nuclear physicist and an archeologist. "The Goa'uld showed up?"

Over the next hour they explained in detail to the base commander what had happened on P3X-429. Once General Hammond had heard about the mission he spoke to Major Sagan, "Good job Major on freeing the rest of your team!"

"Thank you sir," Jarod humbly replied. He could feel that the debriefing was coming to a close and he hadn't been asked about his skills yet and he was hoping that he would be able to get away without having to explain them.

Unfortunately for him, O'Neill hadn't forgotten. "Sagan, where'd you learn some of that stuff you used yesterday?"

"Excuse me sir?" Jarod asked trying to play naïve.

Jack could tell that Jarod was trying to avoid answering the question. "Well there's the hand signals and the excellent shooting with the 9mm... That isn't part of the normal Air Force training program, and your file doesn't mention you having taken any ground special ops training... And then there's those explosives you set up... They were a work of art! Now I know that the Air Force doesn't teach anything like that... Where'd you learn all that stuff?"

Jarod bit his lip as everyone at the table stared at him and waited for his answer, he decided to stretch the truth a little. "Before I joined the Air Force, I participated in Army Ranger School."

"There's no record of you ever being in the Army," General Hammond stated.

"No sir. I called in a favor I was owed and trained with the Rangers for eight weeks," Jarod told them, hoping they would believe his story.

"You were owed a favor and you played Ranger for two months?" Jack asked skeptically.

"Yes sir. I'd rather not give you the name of the gentleman who got me in, he's still in the military... I think he's a General now sir," Jarod added hoping that the high rank would urge them to back off and not look into the matter.

They all stared at him in silence as they each made their judgments about Jarod, why would a nuclear physicist want to participate in Army Ranger School? General Hammond decided to put that aside momentarily, "All right. Well done SG-1 and Major Sagan. That'll be all for now. Colonel, can I see you in my office?"

O'Neill closed the door behind him as he entered General Hammond's office, "Yes sir?"

"What do you think of Major Sagan?"

Colonel O'Neill sat down as he decided how to formulate an answer, "He's smart sir. Maybe as smart as Carter. He does a good job of thinking on his feet, he didn't crack under pressure. He kept his cool out there..."

General Hammond though picked up that Jack was avoiding saying something, "But...?"

"But there's something off about him. He's a little strange. I get the feeling that he's hiding something from us..." Jack honestly answered.

"Any idea what?"

"No sir."

"Do you feel it can be a threat to the rest of the SGC?" Hammond asked his most trusted team leader.

Jack considered what he felt and what he had seen Jarod do. "No sir."

"Recommendations?"

"I think he'll do well on SG-7 in the future. I'd like for him to go on a few more missions with us though sir," Jack honestly told him. He wanted to get a better feel for the man who had just saved him.

* * *

A week later

Sam walked into the laboratory she shared with Jarod and found him sitting at the computer. "What're you working on?" she asked him as she saw the disassembled radio comm-unit next to him.

Jarod looked up from the computer screen, "Oh, hey. I was just testing out some modifications for these comm-units," he told her as he returned to his programming.

"What modifications? These are secure encrypted radio units," she commented as she came to look at his programming over his shoulder.

"Yeah I know, but they can still be tracked..." he told her as he finished up his typing. "There, finished," he exclaimed as he saved the program and then got up to show Sam what he had been working on. "As you know, these radios work on burst transmissions. Now anyone who's monitoring radio waves is able to easily detect the burst transmissions from one of these, they won't know what's being said but they'll know if someone is out there. Which if, you're trying to remain covert, defeats the purpose if you let them know you're there," he pointed out as he picked up one of the comm-units and a regular radio walkman.

"Right," Sam agreed.

"So, what if instead of sending the signal on it's own radio wave, we piggyback the encrypted signal on another radio wave," he told her.

"How can you do that?"

"Have you heard of Alberti's Algorithm?"

Sam thought about the question, "Yeah... isn't it about combining different wave patterns and then recuperating them while maintaining the integrity of each separate pattern."

"Yes exactly... With a few changes to the algorithm I was able to come up with a way to hide the secured transmission in the signal sent by a radio station. Most receivers are set up to pick up a certain pattern from the radio transmitter. Now when a signal's sent from one of these comm-units it'll scan for radio stations, it'll then transmit the communication slightly out of phase of the regular radio's transmission. Another one of these comm-unit's, which has been synchronized, will be able to detect the out of phase signal and separate it from the radio signal because it knows what to look for. To any other receiver it'll just pick up the static of the encoded communication," he explained to her. Jarod was excited for the modifications he had done. He had developed the encryption for the comm-units while at the Centre. Since his escape he had learned of Alberti's Algorithm and had thought of its uses, he had been waiting for the chance to adapt it to these units. He was finally getting his chance.

Sam nodded her head as she listened to his explanation, "That's brilliant!"

"Thanks. It'll work best in urban settings though, but it'll work anywhere that already has a radio signal."

Sam was amazed as she looked at the comm-unit, "How'd you come up with this?"

"My undergraduate degree was in electrical engineering. When I was with the Rangers their communications guy let me play around with one of these. Then when I read about the Algorithm I thought about these units, I've been wanting to try this out and just haven't had access to one of these," Jarod told her with a smile. Hopefully she would buy his story. "You want to help me test them?"

"Yeah! We should get the Colonel; he'd love to see this work... He used to be in covert ops you know."

Jarod looked up from the comm-unit he was connecting to the computer, "No, I didn't know that... Let me just upload these programs to a couple of them and then we can go up and check them out."

Sam questioned him momentarily before she remembered the theory behind the modifications, "Radio signals..." She watched as Jarod connected the comm-unit for the upload and sent the new programs. "Aren't these things under proprietary protection?"

Jarod looked up and smiled, technically they were but he had designed them-he knew all the tricks. "Yeah... but I'm not trying to make any money off this..."

Sam looked at him and smiled back, she respected a man who wanted to help protect their soldiers over making a buck. "I'll go get Colonel O'Neill."

Two hours later O'Neill, Carter and Sagan walked into the base conference room. "Sir, you gotta see what Sagan did with-"Jack exclaimed as he walked into the room before seeing who was there. "Jacob!"

"Dad!" Sam exclaimed as she walked over to her father and gave him a hug. Jarod hung back waiting to be introduced. Sam finally turned to him, "Jarod Sagan, this is my father Jacob."

"A pleasure to meet you sir," Jarod replied as he held out his hand.

"Likewise." Jacob then lowered his head momentarily before raising his head again and speaking in a much deeper voice, "And I am Selmak."

The voice caught Jarod by surprise before he recalled learning that Sam's father was a Tok'ra now and served as a liaison between the Tok'ra and the SGC. Jack spoke next, "So Selmak, what brings you to our part of the galaxy?" he asked as General Hammond, Selmak, Jarod and SG-1 sat down around the table.

"The Tok'ra have learned that Cases'ur, a minor system lord, is on the brink of developing a very powerful weapon. We believe that if he is able to complete development of this weapon it will be more powerful than the weapon Sokar used here on Earth. We request your assistance in stopping Cases'ur from building his new weapon."

"And how exactly can we help you with that?" Jack asked.

"We wish to prevent Cases'ur in a manner that does not implicate either the Tau'ri or Tok'ra. We believe that with Major Carter's assistance we will be able to successfully sabotage his efforts."

"What do you know of the weapon?" Sam asked Selmak.

"It is similar to a particle bombardment laser, that is why we request your expertise."

General Hammond looked at Sam who nodded her head agreeing that she might be able to help them. "Very well then. SG-1 you have permission to accompany Selmak. Be prepped to leave by 1400 hours."

Sam quickly spoke up, "Sir, I think Major Sagan should accompany us. Over the past month we've been able to make some modifications to our own particle accelerator laser. We might have a better chance of disabling their weapon if the two of us are there sir."

General Hammond looked at Carter and then O'Neill. O'Neill gave his silent approval, "Very well. Major Sagan you will accompany SG-1."

"What's with the injections?" Jarod asked as he leaned over to Daniel. Jacob was injecting each member of SG-1 with a substance into their arms.

Daniel looked up and answered him, "It's a radioactive isotope. The Goa'uld ship's detection systems won't be able to pick us up for eight hours while it's still in our system."

Jarod nodded his head as he received his injection. Jack asked Jacob a question as he rubbed the spot where he had been injected with the isotope, "So Jacob, how we getting on board that ship?"

"We'll use the transport rings. Our operative will be standing by in the Ring room to receive you and show you where the weapon is."

"So we have eight hours to disable that weapon?" Jarod asked.

"Yes." Jacob calmly answered.

"And if we can't find a way to do that...?"

"Dah! No negative thoughts before a mission Sagan!" Jack yelled.

"I'm just trying to learn the scope of our mission sir," Jarod answered back. He knew Jack couldn't respond to that answer.

"Then you'll be forced to destroy the ship."

"Why can't we just go with that idea?" Jack asked hoping that he would get to blow up another Goa'uld mother ship.

"Because he may still have the capabilities to rebuild the weapon. No the best way is to show him the weapon doesn't work," Jarod answered. "If we're lucky we'll make it happen in such a way that the ship gets blown up in the process sir."

Jack nodded his head, "Cool." Jack then led his team to the center of the transport rings, "Okay, beam us up Scotty!"

Jarod turned to Sam and whispered, "'beam us up Scotty'? I thought your dad's name was Jacob."

Sam looked over at Jarod with a questioning look, "It is. It's from Star Trek." The team was then ringed aboard Cases'ur's ship.

"What's that?" he curiously asked her.

"A TV show... you've never seen Star Trek?" she asked him shocked. Jarod merely smiled and shook his head. "Don't worry, we'll fix that when we get back!" she whispered to him as they met their Tok'ra contact.

Ten minutes later they were inside the laboratory. "They have actually already completed construction of the weapon, they have not tested it yet. Cases'ur insists on being here during the test. Those working on this weapon will not return for several hours. They are currently working on a 'malfunction' of the hyperdrive. After that they will enter a state of Kel'noreem as they await Cases'ur's arrival. I will return in two hours, we will stay in contact with this," he told them as he held out a small Tok'ra communicator. Once he had given it to Daniel he then turned and left the room.

Jack turned to his two scientists, "Okay kids, hop to it!"

"Yes sir," they both smiled as they looked down at the weapon.

The first hour they spent disassembling the weapon and reading the notes that had been made. The next half hour they spent discussing different options on how to disable the weapon, however each idea they came up with they shot down because the Goa'uld would be able to find the problem and fix it.

By this point, Jack was getting bored and confused as he listened to Carter and Sagan speak in such techno babble that it was making his head hurt. "Do we really have to make it not work? Why don't we just blow it up?" he suggested as he rubbed his hands over his face.

Major Carter answered as Jarod continued to think about the weapon, "Sir, if we do that then they'll know someone was here specifically to destroy this weapon. He'll know he's close and it has people scared. Sir we have to disable it comp-"

"No we don't!" Jarod excitedly exclaimed as he looked at his teammates. "Colonel, you're brilliant!" Jack just stared at him confused; a scientist hadn't called him brilliant in a long time. Jarod looked at Sam and explained, "He's right, we don't have to make it not work. We just need to make it look like it's not working and then have it blow up."

Sam thought about it and smiled, "You're right! We can change some of the gating so that true is false and vice versa! And if we make it look like a runaway system it'll make the explosion more plausible! It may just take out Cases'ur as well."

"Exactly!" Jarod agreed. Carter and Jarod then continued to iron out their plan and redesign the system to work to their specifications.

Jack watched as his scientists began to work at a feverish pace, "Glad I could help!" Over the next forty minutes he watched them re-wire and reconfigure parts of the weapon. He also watched as Jarod carefully shaped the C-4 explosive and placed it just on the inside shell. "You sure that's going to be a big enough explosion?" he asked as he waited for Jarod to put in the detonator.

"Not like this sir..." he said as he popped out the naquadah supply from a staff weapon. "But with this triggering the reaction, it'll be big sir." The members of SG-1 watched with amazement as they watched him jerry-rig a small naquadah bomb with some wires and a paperclip.

"They definitely don't teach that in the Air Force," Jack said under his breath as Jarod put all the pieces in place.

"No they don't sir," Jarod answered as he and Carter put the rest of the weapon back together. Five minutes later they were done, "Okay that should be it," he finally announced.

Jack jumped off the bench he was sitting on, "Let's get out of here then campers. Daniel, give our Tok'ra friends a call will ya?"

When they were all back aboard Jacob's ship, including the Tok'ra operative, Jacob spoke with the spy, "When will Cases'ur return?"

"He will arrive within the hour."

Jacob nodded his head and turned to Jack, "How big of an explosion are you expecting?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders and looked at Carter and Sagan. Carter answered the question, "Actually it should be pretty big, it might take out the entire ship."

"Really?" several people asked her, including Jarod. Jarod continued, "The explosion will be big, but not that big..."

"The laboratory was just below the hyperdrive core. The explosion will spread to the hyperdrive system, once the explosion reaches there it'll set off another chain reaction of explosions," Sam explained to them.

Jack grinned, "Cool!"

Jacob was impressed, "Do you guys want to stick around for the show?"

* * *

"Doctor, it was a pleasure working with you!" Jarod told her with a smile as he got up from the table in the mess hall.

"Likewise Doctor," she returned with a smile.

"I'll see you all tomorrow," Jarod told SG-1 as he headed off to his quarters on base.

Once he had left, Jack turned to Sam. "You like working with him?"

"Very much sir. He's a very smart man and we work well together. He's not cocky and arrogant like McKay was!" she added with a laugh.

"Don't you think there's something weird about him though?" Jack continued.

"What do you mean sir?"

"I don't know... He almost seems to be too good to be true... He's good with that science stuff and he's good out in the field, there's something weird about him..."

"Is there something weird about me then sir?" Sam asked him. Jack looked at her and registered what she said and how he must have come off, the look of terror on his face was priceless as he realized he had offended his second in command. Sam then broke out into a smile, "It's okay sir, I now what you meant."

"It's just that he seems to know a lot more than any one guy should. And he's kind of an odd ball, you gotta admit! I mean, who doesn't know 'beam me up Scotty'?"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow and looked at Jack, "I am not familiar with this phrase O'Neill."

"You don't count T. I mean what do we know about the guy personally?"

"What are you suggesting Jack?" Daniel asked trying to figure out where Jack was going with this.

"I don't know. I just get the feeling that he's hiding something from us..."

* * *

Two weeks later

SG-1 had just returned from another off world mission and was in the infirmary for their post-mission physicals. They were waiting for the results of their blood work to come back to be cleared by the base Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Frasier. Jarod walked into the infirmary when he saw SG-1 had returned. He went over and chatted with them briefly before heading into Dr. Frasier's office, but not before being stopped by Jack.

"What are you doing down here Sagan?"

"I came by to talk to Dr. Frasier," he answered.

"You're coming down here to talk to her and you don't have to? She's not doing a physical on you and yet you willingly come down here?" Jack asked shocked.

"Yes sir. She was going to explain Goa'uld physiology along with symbiote-host interactions," Jarod told him as he knocked on the Dr.'s door.

Jack once again mumbled under his breath a phrase that had become common since Jarod had showed up at the SGC, "Super geek!"

Janet and Jarod were in her office speaking when the lab results came back. She was flipping through each one before she stopped at Colonel O'Neill's report. The healer within Jarod became interested as he saw her reaction to his results, "Everything okay Doc?"

"Hmm... One of Col. O'Neill's levels seems a little high..." she absently answered him. "I better go have a chat with him."

When she entered the infirmary she cleared Teal'c, Daniel, and Sam before stopping in front of Jack. "Are you feeling all right sir?"

"Yeah, I feel fine doc. I'll feel better when you let me outta here!" he laughed.

"You're not feeling any fatigue or abnormal hunger?"

"No, why?" Jack asked her a little worried by her extra questions.

"You're white blood cell count seems quite high and your hematocrit level is low. I don't think it's anything but I'd like to run a few more tests to be sure."

Jack's face fell at the prospect of having to spend more time in the infirmary. Frasier drew some more blood and ordered a full panel, including a tox screen. Seeing the frustration on Jack's face she released him from the infirmary but only under strict orders that he was to return if he started feeling anything out of the ordinary.

Three hours later the tests had all come back and there was nothing conclusive or consistent with any known infections or conditions. The tox screen gave her the most interesting results, an unknown substance was found in his blood and urine sample. She was just about to page Jack back to the infirmary when he arrived, escorted by the rest of his team who were practically carrying him as he struggled for air. Jarod followed a few steps behind them.

"Get him on a gurney! What happened?" she asked them as she went to check his vitals.

"We were in the mess hall eating when he started having problems breathing," Sam filled her in.

"What did he have?" Janet asked thinking perhaps it was some type of allergic reaction.

"Spaghetti," Daniel told her.

Janet was connecting him to pure oxygen when Jarod slowly came up to the bed. Janet was connecting him to an IV when she noticed that Jarod had a stethoscope and had placed it over Jack's lungs and one hand around Jack's throat.

"What are you doing?" she demanded from Jarod. Was he mocking her when one of their own was in trouble?

Jarod didn't respond as he listened to Jack breathe a few more times and checked the pulsimeter. Finally he looked up with a sense of urgency, "You need to intubate him now! His trachea is closing up, if you wait much longer you'll have to do a tracheotomy..." he told her. Janet just stared at him shocked at what he was saying. "Look listen for yourself and place one of your hands around his trachea, you can feel it getting smaller!"

Janet didn't know whether to believe him or not, but her friend's life was in danger. She slowly brought her hand up to his neck and placed her stethoscope on his lungs. She listened and focused intently on what her senses were telling her. She then looked up shocked to realize that Jarod was right as she lowered the gurney. "Bring me an intubation tray," she yelled at one of her nurses. She then reached for a bottle and a syringe. "Colonel, I'm going to have to intubate you. I'm going to give you a little anesthetic so I can insert the tube. When you wake up, you won't be able to talk," she explained to him as she gave him the anesthetic through the IV line.

Five minutes later he had been intubated and his oxygen readings were within normal ranges again. As she closely monitored her patient Jarod stood at the foot of the bed flipping through Jack's chart. When Janet looked up she saw him standing there, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to help," he absently answered her. "Do you think the unknown substance in his system is causing this or do you think it's an allergic reaction?"

Janet looked at the other three members of SG-1 who were still there, "How did you know that technique for the intubation?" Jarod didn't respond, he knew that there was no plausible answer for this one. "Who are you?"

Jarod finally looked up, he needed to decide now. He could either let Jack die or blow his cover and try and save him. "Someone trying to help... I know a little medicine," he offered.

"That's not in your file," Sam commented as she was about to call for security.

Jarod ignored her as he thought about Jack's case some more, "The chemical in his body must have been triggered by something he ate. Did you order another full panel?"

Janet stared at him and decided to go along with him for now, "I think you're right about something triggering it. I'll order another set. I'll collect a few extra tubes of blood again."

"Do you have any extra tubes from before?" Jarod asked as he walked over to the intubation tray.

"Yeah, I think so. What are you thinking?" she asked him as she drew six tubes of blood.

"I was going to run a few tests with both sets, from before and after he became symptomatic... Do you have a lab down here?"

"Yes, down the hall... do you know what you're doing?" she asked him skeptically.

"Yes," he told her confidently.

Janet looked into his eyes and believed him. She didn't know who he was or how he knew so much, but she believed him when he said he knew what he was doing. "I'll have one of the nurses take you down, if you need anything call me. I'll be down here monitoring the Colonel."

Once Jarod had left for the laboratory Sam turned to her friend, "Are you sure you can trust him? He's a nuclear physicist..."

Janet looked at Jack and then at Sam, "I don't know, but I believe him. I'll check in on him in a little while."

Two hours later Janet and Sam went down to the laboratory. "Have you found anything so far?"

"Well something triggered Jack's condition after the first set of tests..." He then brought up a split screen on the computer monitor and pointed at the images, "This is from his post mission physical, and this from two hours ago... As you can see the cells are larger, whatever it is is causing the cells to swell. I took the intubation scope you used on Col. O'Neill and I was able to retrieve some cells from it," he told them as he brought up another image. "They're also swelling... now I'm running a few tests to check if the inflammation is part of the immune response or because of this mystery chemical... I should have those results in a few more hours..."

"Any idea what the chemical is?" Dr. Frasier asked as she looked at his work.

"Not quite, I believe it's somehow affecting his DNA. In the most recent sample there are elevated levels of proteins, I haven't ID'd which ones so far. But the sheer quantity of protein in relation to the first set leads me to believe that whatever this chemical is, it's affecting his transcription factors... How is the Colonel?" he asked as he looked up.

"Not too good. He's in a lot of pain right now, none of his systems seem to be regulating themselves, it's as if they're all going haywire. Which, if your theory is true, makes sense... Why is it affecting him so fast though?"

"I don't know... which systems are the worst?"

"His respiratory we've stabilized, but his kidneys and stomach are shot. It also looks like it's starting to take a toll on his nervous system."

"Prognosis?" Jarod asked her in a clinical manner.

"Not good, if we don't figure out what's going on or find a way to slow it down... 40 hours or so before his organs fail," she told him somberly.

Jarod looked down at his notes, "If we can find out what triggered his reaction we may be able to slow it down... Sam what did he do after he left the infirmary?"

"We had our briefing with General Hammond and then we went to the mess hall to grab some lunch," Sam told him.

"What exactly did he have to eat?"

Janet spoke next, "I have to get back, I'll check back when I can," she told them as she turned to leave.

"I'll come with you," Sam spoke up as she went to follow.

Jarod looked up quickly from his notes and spoke, "Sam, I need your help. I need to know everything you remember from what you did on that planet." Sam looked at Jarod and down the hall, she desperately wanted to be by her commander's side. "I can't help him without you."

She slowly turned around and returned to Jarod's side to answer his questions and lend a hand where she could. "Okay. What do you need to know?"

"What did he have to eat for lunch?"

Sam answered him with resignation in her voice, "Spaghetti with meat sauce, a roll, I think he put some butter on it..."

"Did he have anything to drink?"

"Water and milk... Is any of this really going to help?"

"I don't know, it might... What did the rest of you have for lunch?"

"Teal'c had a salad, Daniel and I just had the spaghetti."

"Okay, what happened on the mission? Do you remember being exposed to any chemical clouds or eating anything?"

"No, we go out there all the time! We know what do to! We don't eat any of the food out there!" she yelled at him frustrated because they weren't getting anywhere.

Jarod's heart broke seeing her frustration, he knew she cared deeply for her CO. "Sam, I know that... but I need you to remember if he did anything out of the ordinary then? Or if he touched something that no one else did."

Sam closed her eyes as she tried to calm down and recall what had happened. "I don't know, it was mostly dark there. He may have touched something and we didn't notice it... He did pick up and smell a flower..." she told him hopefully.

Jarod thought about the information he had been given as he tried to simulate what had happened to Colonel O'Neill, he was missing some information though. "What do you mean by it was dark?"

"It was overcast mostly and we got there an hour or so before sunset, Colonel O'Neill picked up that flower just after sunset..." she told him not seeing how these questions could help Jack.

"Did anyone else smell the flower?"

"Yeah, I did, but I didn't touch it."

"But you're not sick..." he contemplated. "What did you have to drink at lunch?"

"What? I had a diet coke... how does that help?" she asked him.

Jarod looked over his notes and thought about all the information he had gathered. "If the chemical came from the flower then you should be symptomatic... but you're not. Jack must have had something that triggered it, and the only thing he had that you didn't was the bread, butter and a glass of milk... Now the chemical seems to be attacking his protein regulation... Which would imply that the chemical is in the nucleus... Why is it now in the nucleus...?" Jarod asked as he looked down at his notes again. "He had bread, butter and milk... Bread, butter, and milk..." he kept repeating to himself. Finally he had an idea, "Bread, butter, and mi- What type of milk does the mess hall serve?" he asked Sam.

"What? Uh, whole, 2% and skim... I don't see where you're going with this?"

"The milk! It has to be in the milk... can you call the mess hall and find out if they serve milk fortified with Vitamin D?" he asked her as he sprang into action to test his theory.

"What?" she asked him not clear on the biology.

"Vitamin D, I think that's the trigger for the chemical. That would explain why you weren't all affected, there wasn't any sun..." he began to explain to her, however she wasn't following him. "When we go out into the sun a chemical reaction is triggered that produces Vitamin D. Vitamin D is an important nuclear regulatory factor, it gets taken into the nucleus naturally. Most milk these days is fortified with Vitamin D. Now if he had the milk and it was fortified, then his system would have had a huge spike in Vitamin D, activating the chemical. Now maybe this chemical compound binds to the Vitamin D in some way and so gets carried into the nucleus, it's possible that this chemical then does something to affect the regulatory pathways," he explained to her as he waited for her to understand.

Sam listened to Jarod and decided his theory was plausible. She turned and went over to the phone to call the mess hall and verify what type of milk they serve. Behind her Jarod continued to run tests and analyze results. As she waited for the mess hall to get back to her with an answer she quietly placed another call to General Hammond. Two minutes later she had her answer, "The milk is fortified with Vitamin D, it has 50% of the daily recommended amount."

"Okay, it's a lead. I can verify it once I get the results from the mass spec..."

"How long will that take?" Sam asked him.

"Ten more minutes. I've already run two of the samples, I'm waiting on the last one."

"Why do you have three samples?"

Jarod got up and retrieved the results from the tests he had already run and laid them out for her to see. "Frasier has baseline samples of everyone's blood. I ran some of it," he said as he laid out the spectrogram for it. "This is the sample from his post mission physical," he said as he laid out another set of results and waited for her to note the difference.

"This peak," she pointed out, "it's not there on the baseline."

"Exactly," Jarod commented as he waited for the results from the machine to produce the results.

"And if this peak is still there, but it's shifted then we can find out what the trigger was," she commented as she followed his line of thinking as Jarod nodded his head. "What then?"

Jarod looked at her, "Then I can come up with a way to inactivate the chemical, if I can come up with another chemical to bind to the Vitamin D it should stop the progression of this. I don't think it'll cure him, but it'll buy us some time to figure out how to get it out of his system. Once we've cleared it from his system you can use the Goa'uld healing device to treat him."

"And you can do all that?" she asked him skeptically a few minutes later.

"Yes," he quietly answered.

They both looked at the door when they heard a pair of SF's arrive at the door, "Who are you?" Sam asked him as she received a note from one of the men. "Jarod Sagan doesn't exist, he never went to MIT and he never worked at Los Alamos. He's not even in the Air Force," she confronted him as she read the information that General Hammond had uncovered.

Jarod looked down, he knew he would eventually be found out. "Look, I just want to help Colonel O'Neill right now. I'll answer all your questions once this is over," he told her sincerely as the mass spec printed out the results. "But I doubt anyone else here will be able to help him the way I can in the time we have."

Sam stared at him and considered what to do. She saw what Dr. Frasier had seen earlier, a man who just wanted to help. She also knew that she couldn't develop a chemical and that the SGC didn't have an organic chemist on staff. She turned to the SF's, "Wait outside." She then turned to Jarod and saw his relieved face, "what are the results?"

Jarod grabbed the printout and laid it out for both of them to see, "It's shifted..." he commented as he mentally did the math. "And it's consistent with the molecular weight of Vitamin D!" he excitedly told her, "We got our trigger!"

"Now what?" she asked him excited that at least now they had a lead to follow.

"Now we do our research!" he told her as he went over to the computers. "We need to find the structure of Vitamin D, once we do we can figure out what chemicals or drugs target similar structures. Once we know what we need to make, we can build it," he told her with a smile as he logged onto PubMed.

"Just like that...?" she asked him as she began to search for information on Vitamin D as well.

Jarod looked over at her and smiled, "Well, there'll be a few things I'll have to do in between."

An hour later they had a list of drugs that targeted similar substructures of Vitamin D. "Now what?" Sam asked.

"Now we learn how to make these drugs so we can figure out how to build the target areas," he told her as he logged onto one drug company's website.

She watched as Jarod easily made his way to their internal website, "How are you going to do that?"

"Uh... you may not want to be here for this part, it's kind of illegal," he told her as he continued to hack into their system and access their proprietary secrets.

"You're quite the hacker!" she commented. "How can I help?"

"Yeah, I've had some practice. Look if I can get us into their systems, can you find the information we'll need?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she told him as she sat down at the computer that he had just used to hack into Bayer's system. She then muttered under her breath, "God, I hope we don't get caught!"

"We won't," he told her lightly. "I helped develop their security systems," he confided in her.

Sam looked up from her screen, "What? You're kidding... You're not kidding are you?" she commented as she looked at his face. "I wonder what else you got up your sleeve?" she said as she returned to her screen.

"Once this is over," he promised her as he continued to hack into another site.

Ten hours later Jarod held up a bottle that contained a yellowish liquid in it. He turned to Sam and asked her a question, "So how much do I add?"

Sam looked up from her calculations, "Add 10 microliters to the concentrated chemical tube and add 50 microliters to the whole blood samples."

"Okay," he replied as he added the different amounts to the different tubes. "Now we wait."

As they waited Jarod continued to check the status of other experiments he was running to identify the pathology of the infection as well as its chemical structure. "Has the kidney dialysis machine arrived yet?"

"I don't know, I'll go check with Dr. Frasier," she told him as she left the room to head to the infirmary. "How's he doing?" she asked as she stepped into the infirmary and went to her CO's bedside.

Dr. Frasier looked up from the chart she was writing in, "Still no improvement, his systems are still failing. He's drifting in and out of consciousness... How's it going with Jarod?"

"Good," she replied as she looked at her CO. "We're testing a compound now. We don't know how long it'll take. He should be doing the first time check soon... I really think he can save the Colonel..." she added.

"How does he know all this stuff?"

"I don't know, he says he'll tell us when this is all over... some kind of genius though... You know I've learned more organic chemistry and physiology in the last few hours then I ever learned at the Academy!" she lightheartedly shared with her friend as they shared a short laugh. She paused before remembering why she had come down there, "Hey did the hospital deliver the dialysis machine?"

"Yeah, it's on its way down now. Why did he want it?" Janet asked.

"One of the last modifications he put on his chemical compound was a marker that the dialysis machine would detect and filter out," she explained.

"Removing the chemical compound from his body!" Janet finished. "He seems to have thought of everything hasn't he?"

"Yeah, it's kind of odd how much he plans out and how it works," Sam told the doctor.

Janet looked at Sam with a questioning look, "What do you mean?"

"Remember a few weeks ago when the Colonel, Teal'c and I were taken prisoner and Jarod and Daniel rescued us? Well Daniel told us that Jarod had every detail of the rescue planned out, and then it all went down as he predicted... As if he had seen it happen already..."

"That is odd," Janet replied as she thought about what she knew about Jarod. "Hopefully he's right again..."

A few minutes later the phone rang pulling Janet away from O'Neill's bedside, "Dr. Frasier...It worked?!... How much longer? ... Okay, I'll make sure the dialysis machine is ready by the time we need it... Thanks Jarod, I'll see you in a bit," she answered before replacing the receiver. She then returned to Jack's bedside to share the news, "That was Jarod, the drug worked! He needs to run one more test before we give it to Colonel O'Neill. His drug stopped the protein levels from increasing any more, it inactivated the chemical!"

Forty-five minutes later Jarod entered the infirmary with a sterilized bottle of the chemical he had developed. With Dr. Frasier's assistance, he worked out the proper dosage and connected the bottle to O'Neill's IV line. Before they connected the bottle they drew some more of the Colonel's blood to run some tests on. "We should wait a couple hours before connecting him to the dialysis machine," Jarod announced.

He waited around for five minutes before he started to leave, "Where you going?" Janet asked him.

"I need to go identify the mystery compound... just in case," he told her with a smile as he turned and left.

Four hours later Sam was woken up by the sound of shuffling papers. She raised her head from O'Neill's bedside where she had fallen asleep. When she awoke she saw that Daniel was asleep in another bed, Dr. Frasier was taking a nap in her office, and Teal'c was standing watch in the corner. "How long have I been out?"

"Two hours, since they connected the dialysis machine," Teal'c responded from the corner.

"Is it working?" she asked him.

"They believe so," Teal'c told her hopefully.

"Where's Jarod?"

Teal'c then came over to the bed, "I believe he is still working in the laboratory."

Sam looked down at her watch, "It's six in the morning... I'm going to go check on him." She then got up from her vigil spot and headed down the hall. "Hey!" she called out when she arrived.

Jarod looked up from the papers he had spread out across the lab bench, "morning," he unemotionally told her.

"What's wrong? Teal'c told me the treatment was working," she told him after detecting the frustration in his voice.

"It is, but not completely. For some reason his liver seems to be harboring some of the unbound chemical. The treatment we developed isn't working on it because it's not bound to the Vitamin D... I can't get the structure of the chemical compound for at least 24 hours. The only way I can get it is to get the chemical to crystallize and then analyze it on an X-ray cyrstallographer... Only then can I start on working on a treatment for getting that out of his system... Until then we have to seriously limit his exposure to Vitamin D... He doesn't have this kind of time!" he told her in exasperation at the situation they were in as he lowered his head.

Sam tried to be the voice of reason, "But he's getting better now?" Jarod nodded his head in response. "Okay then how about we just treat the symptoms. I mean we don't have to cure him right now, you've bought us some time... How long before all the bound chemical is removed from his system?"

Jarod looked up, "Six hours."

"At which point he will only have the unbound chemical since you're essentially removing all the Vitamin D from his body. Won't he be asymptomatic then?"

"Yes," he told her as he started regaining hope. "It'll be just like when he first returned! You can use the healing device to heal all his organs. His liver will still be slightly inflamed from the presence of the chemical, but we can keep that under control with other drugs! You're brilliant Sam! I never thought about treating just the symptoms, I always focused on finding the cure!"

Sam laughed at his comments, "I would hardly consider myself brilliant next to you; you're the one with all the ideas today!"

* * *

Later that evening

"How are you feeling Colonel?" General Hammond asked him.

"Peachy sir. Just a little nausea now and then from the medication," he told his commanding officer as he lowered himself in his chair.

"Glad to at least see you on your feet again Colonel. I don't know if anyone's told you, but the treatment you received was designed primarily by Jarod."

"Sagan?" he asked not believing his ears that a nuclear physicist had saved his life-again.

"His name's not Sagan," Hammond told him. "That's why we're here actually. Corporal would you show Jarod in?"

The corporal returned momentarily escorting Jarod into the conference room. Jarod walked in and stood at the opposite end of the table. He looked around the table and nodded his head before sitting down. As he sat down he noticed that his two silver cases had been retrieved from his room as per his request.

General Hammond began the inquisition, "So Jarod, who are you?"

Jarod closed his eyes before telling them his secret. He slowly opened his eyes and began to tell his story, "My name is Jarod, and I am a Pretender."

"What's your last name Jarod?" Hammond asked.

"I don't know, I think it's Russell though. Sir, if you'll give me a few minutes I'll get to that," he added before the General could question him further about that.

General Hammond conceded this point and nodded his head for him to continue on, but before he could, Daniel spoke up next, "What's a Pretender?"

"A genius who can become anyone he wants. I have the ability to learn anything and immediately put myself in a position to use that knowledge. I gather and absorb information and I am able to create simulations of events and put myself in the shoes of those involved and draw conclusions from that. I am a problem solver. I can do anything I want as long as I gather the necessary information to practice it."

All the faces around the table were in shock. Daniel formed his words first, "Whoa, so uh... are you born this way?"

"Yes and no, I was trained so that my abilities would not be wasted. I have a genetic marker in my blood that predisposes me, however without the proper training this ability would go untapped and a person would just have an above average intelligence..." he told them before he began to tell them the horror that had been his youth. "When I was about four years old I was taken from my parents by a corporation called the Centre. They told me my parents had died in a plane crash, only once I escaped did I learn that they had lied to me. I escaped from the Centre two and a half years ago, I was a prisoner of the Centre for over thirty years. While I was there they trained me to use my Pretender abilities. They made me run simulations for them. They would have me run scenarios for them. They would have me develop technology for them. They told me I was helping people but they were using me to make money. They would take the results from the simulations I completed and use it to hurt people, or they would manipulate the technology I created and sell it to the highest bidder! They stole my life!" he added contemptuously. He then got up and retrieved the two silver cases from the side table. He opened up the DSA player and got a disc from the other case. He loaded one disc into the machine and started one of his simulations. He then turned the DSA player so the others could see while he held up another disc, "My entire life at the Centre is recorded on these discs. They used and treated me like a lab rat!" he told them as he sat down and let them watch.

Everyone in the room was in stunned silence as they watched a young boy sitting in a bubble screaming as he experienced what the astronauts from the failed Apollo 11 mission had felt when their rocket had caught fire. They listened as they heard the boy deliver his results that there was nothing that they could have done, and identify why the disaster had occurred. They watched as a young boy recreated the assassination of JFK. They saw the same young boy ask where his parents were and being told that they had died.

Jarod let the disc play for ten minutes before stopping it. Once it was stopped someone muttered an "oh God!"

"What have you been doing since you escaped?" General Hammond finally asked after five minutes of shocked silence.

"Searching for my family and seeking atonement..." he answered.

Daniel asked him a question next, "For what?"

"For all the wrongs the Centre committed because of what I thought up. Ever since I escaped I have fought to help people piece their lives back together, to help them find the truth, to protect the innocent. That's why I came here... Someone I had helped was concerned about a friend of his who had died while working for the Air Force, Dr. Rothman. To those outside of the SGC his death was clouded in mystery and suspicion, and when I looked into project Bluebook I found that there were a lot of deaths and several unrecovered bodies. It looked suspicious and so I faked my records to learn what had happened to Dr. Rothman, and if foul play was involved bring the responsible parties to justice. Once I learned the truth of what was going on down here and that there was no foul play surrounding Rothman's death, I thought I could stay on and hide out here for awhile."

"From what?" Sam asked him.

"From the Centre. They believe I belong to them. They've been looking for me and those discs since I escaped," he explained to them.

Jack was fascinated by what he was hearing, "So you can become anyone you want? What have you posed as since you got out?"

Jarod rattled off some of the professions he had masqueraded as since his escape: race car driver, SWAT team member, Army Ranger, Coast Guard, rocket scientist, conductor, doctor, EMT, teacher, forger, safe-cracker, psych patient, counselor, inventor and many others. He also told them of some of his abilities- including his computer hacking and his knowledge of over 40 languages. He then turned to Sam, "I'm actually the one who developed those comm-units in the first place. I couldn't be messing with proprietary secrets if they're my secrets now can I?" he laughed.

"How do you stay sane through all this?" Janet asked.

"Hope," he simply replied. "I'll never lose hope that someday I'll find my family. That's what keeps me going... That and I know a little psychology," he added lightly.

General Hammond nodded his head as he spoke, "This is the most fascinating thing I've heard in a long time... What can you tell me about the Centre?"

Jarod stared hard at the man, "Nothing. I can't. The Centre has too much money, power, and connections with the government for anything to be done... If they find out that inquiries are being made from this place, they'll find out about this place and they'll come looking for me. I can't have you looking around for them, if you do I'll have to take my leave," he seriously told him.

"You've compromised and infiltrated my base, you think I'm going to let you just walk out of here? I'll throw you in the brig first!" General Hammond lashed back. Those around the table cringed at their CO's reaction, they didn't want to scare Jarod away.

"General if you do that, I'll just escape. You'll never find me, I've stayed ahead of the Centre for almost three years. The U.S. government will be easy compared to that... I don't want to leave though," Jarod explained to them.

Jarod's last comment caught them all off guard, "What do you mean?"

"I'd like to stay here and help General Hammond."

General Hammond looked at his staff around him. Major Carter was the first speak, "If I may sir, he'd be a big asset to the SGC. Scientifically speaking sir, he's more capable than I am in more fields."

General Hammond considered Carter's words before turning to his second in command, "Sir, as much as I love scientists," he began sarcastically, "it wouldn't hurt to have a jack of all trades around here. He's proven himself under pressure out in the field and in the lab."

General Hammond looked around the table as he came to a decision, "How am I supposed to explain this?"

Jarod offered his services, "General I can make Jarod Sagan disappear, his story's blown already. I can create a new identity quite easily. I know a Senator on the Armed Services Committee, he can authorize the transfer of Jarod Hawkings to project Bluebook."

"How?"

"Creating an identity and history for someone in the US government is pretty easy once you know how to hack into certain systems. With all the bureaucracy and red tape in the government, it's not all that hard. I can create an identity so thorough that it can withstand an NSA and CIA background check, I've done it before," Jarod honestly told them. "Look General, you may be hesitant and I don't blame you. But I just want to help out."

General Hammond believed him, "I feel that against my better judgement, I should let you join the SGC because of all the help and expertise you could offer. But I feel I can't knowingly let someone work here illegally after breaking several laws... But what could I do if Major Sagan 'disappeared' from our custody, and then a few months later his replacement arrived," he told them with a smile.

The End


End file.
